


There You Are

by silverpaladin



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Mass Effect 1, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Renegade Shepard (Mass Effect), Slow Burn, female paragon, idk man everyones kinda chaotic grey here when it comes to morals, male renegade, or at least itll hopefully be slow burn, shepard sibling au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 09:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13455366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverpaladin/pseuds/silverpaladin
Summary: Given the title of spectre and command of the Normandy, Rhys Shepard decides to seek out his sister to help with bringing down Saren. But Carrie Shepard is unconventional at best when it comes to working in a team, and downright terrible at worst. But despite her chaotic nature and her loose views regarding authority, she finds herself drawn to a certain Lieutenant and his steady nature, and in return he finds himself fascinated by her conflicting nature.(Mass Effect 1 retell in a Shepard sibling AU)





	There You Are

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea knocking around my head for a while, so I finally bit the bullet and went ahead and wrote it! Hopefully this becomes part of a larger thing, but we shall see!

 

It didn’t take Kaidan too long to realise that the bar was by no means a respectable establishment. There might not have been any strippers or overt drug users, but there was an undercurrent of seediness that was impossible to ignore. He could see it in the way that the lighting was set at a deep blue, obscuring the patrons faces and making it difficult to see their intentions. He could smell it in cheap alcohol that had already made its way onto his uniform. But most importantly he knew it because Shepard had told him that his sister didn’t frequent anywhere that could be mistaken for respectable.

“How do you know she’s here sir?” he asked, watching as Shepard scanned the room. He stood a few inches taller than the majority of the people there so he had a good view.

“Because I know my sister. She’s been on shore leave for nine hours and this is the closet dive to the station she arrived at. My bet is she hasn’t even gone home yet.” There was an emotion in his voice when he spoke of his sister that Kaidan found difficult to place. A definite fondness laced with, concern? Disappointment? He knew the rumours about Carrie Shepard as well as anyone else in the alliance and they both seemed like reasonable emotions for an older brother to have. “And before you ask, yes she is.”

“She is, what?”

“Worth us coming up here to get. She’s the best sniper the alliance has, no matter what she tries to tell you.”

Kaidan ran a hand through his hair, “I uh, I wasn’t going to say anything.”

Shepard grunted and went back to his search. Kaidan wouldn’t say that he was uncomfortable around Shepard, but he seemed like he lived on a separate level of existance than Kaidan did. One that involved bar fights and neon lights and going past the speed limit. He wasn’t uncomfortable, he was just far removed.

“The she is,” Shepard said, and by the time Kaidan registered it he was already elbowing his way through the crowd, leaving Kaidan to smile apologetically at the disgruntled patrons, lest they decide to take a swing in their drunken state.

It turned out that Carrie hadn’t been all that difficult to spot, she was sitting on one of the stools at the bar. Quite possibly the easiest place to find someone in a bar. Kaidan could only see the back of her at that moment; a smaller frame than he expected, tiny really compared to her brother’s looming figure; and blonde jaw length hair that had become frizzed in the sweaty heat. There was a looseness to her body language that he’d never seen Shepard demonstrate, although that might have just been because of the alcohol. It looked as though she was currently conversing with the bartender, and almost knocking over a significant ammount of glasses as she did so due to her exaggerated hand gestures.

Shepard didn’t call out to her, instead opting to gain her attention by putting a hand on her shoulder. She immediately froze, her hands suspended in the air mid-gesture, and turned her head to look at her brother. Kaidan was instantly taken aback by how dissimilar the siblings looked. Where Shepard was dark she was fair, where Shepard’s nose was straight, hers was hooked. In fact, the only similarity they had was in the fact that they both had blue eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she said, not even her accent matching Shepard’s southern drawl. Instead she sounded British, English if he had to guess but truth be told he didn’t know enough about England to pinpoint the accent any further.

Shepard slid onto the stool next to her, “It’s nice to see you too Carrie,” a playful tone to his voice.

“Tosser,” she muttered, and then reached for her glass and proceeded to pour its contents down her neck at an impressive speed.

Kaidan shuffled as close to the two as he could, mindful of the space he was taking up and of the people that walked into him on their way to and from the bar. He could see now that Carrie was still in her allience uniform, only with the jacket screwed up at her feet, leaving her in only a vest and her dogtags. He tried his best to remain looking at her face, seeing for the first time that scar that twisted its way down the left side of her face. _The scar_. Everyone who had heard about her and her story knew about the scar, and now he didn’t have anywhere to look without feeling like he was staring.

“You’re charming as ever,” Shepard replied, and immediately raised a finger to the bartender and ordered himself a drink. “D’you want one Alenko?”  
Carrie’s attention was now on him, as though she had only just become aware of his presence, and the weight of her gaze made him want to fidget, but he forced himself to remain still.

“No thank you, sir.”

“I’ll have his one then, _sir_ ,” Carrie said, a smile tugging at her lips as she spoke. Rhys just nodded and held up another finger for the bartender.  
The drinks arrived shortly, and Shepard opened his mouth to say something, but she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. She’d twisted round on the stool now so that she was facing Kaidan, giving him her full attention with that small smile. Back straight and arm outstretched for a handshake in an exaggerated manner that indicated just how drunk she was. “Name’s Carrie.”

“Kaidan Alenko,” he replied, taking her hand in his and finding himself surprised when he found that her skin was cold to the touch, despite the heat of the room.

“Kaidan Alenko,” she repeated, extending the syllables as though she was testing them out, seeing how they felt in her mouth. “Now would you mind telling me why exactly my brother has decided to bother me, in full uniform, on my first day of shore leave, huh?”

“I need to ask–” Shepard began to interject, but she shot him a look and he stopped immediately. Kaidan almost laughed, he’d never seen Shepard give in to anything like that before. Had never seen him be shut down so quickly and thoroughly, not without at least trying to fight back. But he was thoroughly resigned, leaning back on the bar nursing his drink.

“I believe Commander Shepard wanted to ask you something.”

Carrie’s brow furrowed, and she leaned back to match Shepard’s posture, and to Kaidan’s relief finally let go of his hand. “You know I’m on shore leave, right?” The question directed at Shepard more than Kaidan, although her eyes were still locked onto his general direction. He got the feeling she was trying to maintain eye contact, but the alcohol was making that somewhat difficult.

“Yes but–”

“My first day of shore leave.”

“Yes I know–”

“I’ve been on at space for 7 months, Rhys.”

“Are you going to let me answer this time?”

Her gaze finally shifted towards her brother, and Kaidan found himself releasing a breath. Not knowing that he’d been holding it. She held the silence for a few seconds before saying, “Fine. Go ahead.”

“Thank you kindly. I’d like you on the Normandy.”

“What part of I’m on fucking shore leave, didn’t you understand?”

“I understood it all perfectly, but I’m asking you to come aboard anyway. I need you Carrie.”

Carrie seemed to sigh, and then took another swig of her drink. And then another. And another. As if she thought that if she just drank enough then Shepard would forget his question, and she wouldn’t have to answer. Wouldn’t have to accept or wouldn’t have to turn him down. Perhaps Kaidan was reading too much into it, which he admitted was entirely possible, but it seemed as though she was looking for an answer at the bottom of that glass.

“Please, Carrie. You’re the best, and I need the best.” Shepard was still leaning against the bar, almost nonchalantly, but the crease in his eyes gave him away.

She sighed again, but this time more resigned. “I’m already assigned to a ship, Rhys.”

The beginnings of a smile creeped onto Shepard’s face as he leaned forwards, “I’m a spectre now, I’m sure that Captain Parrella will be more than happy to oblige.”

Carrie downed the rest of her drink, and then looked at the empty glass for a while. Whether she found an answer there or not, Kaidan couldn’t tell, but after a few seconds she turned her head to face Shepard, and said in a very slow and measured manner, “I do not take orders from you.”

To Kaidan, that seemed like a rejection, a categorical _fuck no_ , but Shepard obviously knew her well enough to glean her true meaning as the smile spread to the rest of his face in what Kaidan could only describe as _beaming_. “You maintain the right to tell me to go fuck myself. Free will and all that shit you like.”

“Wanker,” Carrie whispered, quiet enough that Kaidan wasn’t even sure that she’d said anything. “Fine. I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

“I was hoping we could get things moving a bit quicker than that,” Shepard replied.

“What was that about me maintaining the right to tell you to go fuck yourself?” Kaidan had to hold back a snort, and he was certain that Carrie saw him cover his mouth to stifle to laughter that followed and sent a wink his way. “But seriously, if you want me showing up to your shiny new ship with your shiny new crew drunk as a skunk then fine.”

Shepard threw back the rest of his drink and shook his head, “No, tomorrow morning works just fine. We have other business here in the mean time.”

“Is that business called Crystal by any chance? Or, wait, no, was it Anna?”

Shepard’s smile vanished completely and stood up, kissing Carrie on the head as a goodbye. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” and began making his way through the crowds.

Kaidan wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know what history was behind that comment, but Carrie saw that he’d been slow in following Shepard though the crowd and winked at him once more, “You should tell him to lighten up more. It’ll be good for his blood pressure.”

“I uh, sure thing,” and then he left her at the bar, ordering another drink from the looks of it.

He finally caught up to Shepard half way through the crowd, once again apologising to the people that he had pushed out of the way. “She seems, interesting?” he called out, not meaning for it to be a question, but he struggled to find a word adequate to describe that first meeting. He wasn’t entirely sure what he thought of her, it probably wasn’t fair to base his entire first impression of her on a meeting that occurred when she was drunk and he was all too sober. But she seemed to exist in the same reality as her brother, just with slightly softer edges.

“Naw,” Shepard replied. “She’s lovely really. She just likes to tease.” Kaidan could certainly agree with that, the memory of her playful smile replaying in his mind, even as he tried to think of anything else.

Interesting probably was the best way to describe her. Although whether it was for better or for worse, Kaidan had yet to decide.


End file.
